News: Habibi Ceramics collab and new stockists
Find us at all Weavers Way Co-ops, Dry Storage in Boulder CO, Salt & Sundry in Washington DC. A newsier sauce update today.
If you’ve ever eaten out with me, you’d know that the first thing I do when sitting at a restaurant is lifting up the plate or bowl to see who made it. I will do this with every plate that lands in front of me. I always want to know if something is handmade, how much care went into making it, where the restaurant is sourcing even their non-food items from.
I think it’s a thing that a lot of chefs do, but my mother loved working with clay and making the bowls we ate off at home when I was little (I only have one of her pieces left today) and I remember spending hours and hours at markets with her in Hong Kong getting her chops (the stone stamp with her Chinese name stylized and carved) customized so that she could use them to stamp the bottom of her bowls before they went into the kiln. We also stopped in Tokyo frequently to shop for bowls that served as her inspiration (back in the 90s, United flights between Honolulu and Hong Kong all had layovers in Narita. We flew this route several times a year, and we’d leave the airport and take trips on the bullet train to go shopping. Obviously back then I had to be placated with many rolls of grape mentos).
Anyway, all this to say that this is a really fitting collab for Mother’s Day.
I worked with the talented ceramicist behind Habibi Ceramics, Nadia Elgan, for a limited edition snack bowl with a special glaze speckled with Poi Dog pink and red. It comes in two sizes (small and large), comes with a bottle of Chili Peppah Water and Guava Katsu, and has been months in the making.
The bottom is stamped with both our logos.
Add to that all the details that make our CPW an homage to the women in my family. (Palaka, the background pattern on the label, being the fabric of the sugarcane plantation workers of Hawai’i; my grandma Gloria worked in the notions department of the Arakawa Store, the biggest plantation store…I tell these stories a lot). This last batch of Chili Peppah Water was named Noelani after my sister, and the next one which we are scrambling to prepare now because we’ve sold so much Noelani we’re almost out, will be named Kehaunani after my cousin.
If you’re in Philly, here’s a little local guide to where to find our sauce! (In addition to Whole Foods Fairmount). And if you’re not in Philly, our retailers are scattered around the country.
